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Pardon me, Mr. Seacrest, but you promised results that may shock me tonight, not results that I 2/3 of the way totally predicted. Ryan also promised that there might be a surprise or two tonight, which I didn't seem to catch. Welcome to Idol, where anything can happen but probably won't.

I think that the show should just quit doing the group performances on the show because the obviousness of the lipsynching is starting to hurt--if it's not the disconnects between the lips and the synchs, it's the difference in mixing between the group number and the other performances. But way to stick Scott at the piano, once again solving the conundrum of what to do with the blind guy/11th man.

After the performance of "Trouble" we were treated to another Ford commercial/music video, this one featuring the kids cleaning off a dirty car with water balloons to the tune of OK Go's "Here It Goes Again." Wake me up when the girls get crazily made up and stuck in the whorey costumes.

Some extra time was killed with behind the scenes footage of Jasmine and Jorge's elimination last week, including an unexpectedly bitchy Jorge telling the crowd at Buca di Beppo, "Don't get too comfortable because we’re not the only ones who are going to get eliminated." True dat.

Then there was more time killing: Michael misses his daughter. Megan was so sick people wore masks!

Finally we got to the eliminations: Danny and Lil were safe. Allison and Michael were up on the chopping block and Ryan asked Paula which of the two of them should go home. I was surprised when Paula opted for Allison (after Simon needled her to just "answer the question" as she waffled). I thought it was bogus that Allison did end up in the bottom three, but less so that Michael did as well.

Before we got to further eliminations, Grand Ole Opry singer Brad Paisley performed "Then." Then, more eliminations (I know this sounds like I'm just rushing through it but believe me if you watched and DVR'd I'm giving you exactly what you'd catch). Scott was safe. Megan was safe. Matt was safe and then Kris was safe, all of them going on the Idol tour. That left Adam and Alexis up to potentially make the bottom three. Ryan asked Simon if he wanted to apologize for what he said to Adam after re-watching last night's performance and Simon, god love him, declined, proclaiming it "even worse" than what he saw before. Randy predicted that Alexis would be the one in the bottom three, but instead he called her "Allison." I felt bad for Alexis, who seemed both pissed yet unsurprised by this, and by the news that she would be in the bottom three.

In short order Allison was sent back to safety, thank goodness. Journalistic/personal integrity prohibits me from dialing in for Idol but it would be ridiculous for Allison to go home early, so you callers, do your thing!

Then Carrie Underwood, wearing a kind of odd hairstyle (cut or just turned under?) and Randy Travis sang a song called “I Told You So”--their age difference was a little bit odd, he being too young to be her father-figure type but too old to be a lover type. They both sounded fine though. Randy also explained the reason that all his feedback last night sounded the same was because he had no professional training, so Barry Manilow and Andrew Lloyd Webber can rest easy knowing that Randy won't take their Idol jobs.

Before the elimination, Simon revealed that the judges would consider saving either Michael or Alexis, which I assumed meant Alexis--I thought Michael was OK but Alexis was a stronger singer and had more talent than he. It was revealed that Alexis was voted off, though, probably because she'd be totally useless on an oil rig. She reprised "Jolene," still miles behind the original and while not technically better than last night, her desperation actually made the song work a little better. I was pretty sure the judges STILL wouldn't use their save as long as Danny or Adam were alive in the competition, so I assumed they were fake-talking throughout Alexis' performance. And yes, she got sent home. Farewell, Alexis--you were a better singer than a handful of folks on this show. Maybe you should have worn crazier jackets.

Next week, Idol returns Wednesday and Thursday with the hits of Motown. Get ready, 'cause here it comes.

Grade: C

--A friend of mine noted that it was a little weird to pretend that Scott could see in the Ford video, IE chasing after the car as it drove away.